5 Thriller Writing Prompts to Get Your Story Started

Thrillers are dark, engrossing, suspenseful, and fast-paced stories fueled by high-stakes scenarios and unexpected plot twists. Though thrillers are primarily action-driven, thriller writers must also be adept at world-building, creating a setting that adds to the atmosphere. Thrillers also need compelling characters—there’s usually a main character whose point of view the book follows, a villain in the form of a single person or shadowy organization, and a host of supporting characters who add depth to the story.

Thrillers can also fall into various subgenres, such as historical fiction, sci-fi, spy stories, or murder mysteries. Although thriller stories are a popular fiction genre, you can also find non-fiction thrillers that tell suspenseful stories based on real-life events.

Writing prompts are story starters that can help you conquer writer’s block and get the creative juices flowing. Whether you’re working on a thriller novel or short story, or just want a writing exercise to inspire fresh ideas, here are some creative writing prompts to kick-start your next thriller story.

1. 1. Taking a break from their busy lives, two best friends go on a ski trip together. One of them doesn’t know that the other is a serial killer.
2. 2. A journalist looking for her next good story is coming home from visiting her mother. On the way, her car breaks down, and she’s forced to stay the night at a secluded mountain inn. When she wakes up, there’s a dead body in her hotel bathroom.
3. 3. Two high school sweethearts have the perfect love story till a blackout shuts down the power grid on Halloween night. Things return to normal the next day, but the boy realizes his girlfriend has disappeared.
4. 4. In a dystopian world ravaged by a climate catastrophe, a writer falls asleep at his typewriter. The next morning, there’s a cryptic message on what used to be a blank page, that may be from his long-lost daughter.
5. 5. After a year, a woman comes out of a coma and realizes that everyone thinks she murdered her girlfriend. Now she must prove her innocence.

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